Timbre @ Substation II

I was here with a few of our friends for pizza, though on a Saturday night we could only manage to get one of the less comfortable "high-seating" tables and chairs as many of the rest were already reserved. So for those interested to have dinner at Timbre on a weekend evening, do make reservations online or through the phone ya.

Chicken Pizza: 8/10


We couldn't quite remember the exact name of the pizza, but if it helps, it is the first pizza on the pizza list. Good pizza, it's thin and crisp, and the chicken and spanish onions went very well together. Add parmesan cheese and chilli and it's all complete.

Timbre's Seafood Pizza: 9/10


It wasn't exactly as good as the previous time, but still it was served hot with fresh-tasting ingredients. The picture is amazing isn't it, makes you want to just sink your teeth into the delicious looking pizza. Our friends were pleased.

Service
Despite the low reviews online, I have to say for myself that the service was pretty good actually, the staff were polite and they were pretty attentive. One thing though, iced water is on a free one-round basis, and you can't have anymore after that. I suppose they sensed that I was quite amused at such a silly policy, and gave us another glass. It's not 2011 yet people, we're still getting our water freely from across the causeway.

Price
$17.99 for the Pizza, excluding taxes.

Place
The Substation
45 Armenian Street
Entrance is from behind the Substation House
Website: http://www.timbre.com.sg/t1.htm

Man Jia Le Full House

Me and Daphne wanted something more after our less than filling dinner at Long John Silver's, and after walking around The Central at Clarke Quay decided to give in to our sweet tooth's temptations.


There's quite a variety of food despite the small area that this little cafe occupies at the basement level of this shopping mall. Some of the items have weird names that are pretty funny.

Super Kung Fu Iced Milk Tea: 8/10
Iced Peach Tea: 6.5/10


See what I mean. Super Kung Fu Iced Milk Tea. I was telling Daphne that maybe I should show some Kung Fu moves to describe the drink I want. Of course, all she did was raise her eyebrow and give me an odd look. The iced milk tea reminds me of the one at Qi Ji, and it was not too bad, thick and oh so sweet.

The iced peach tea on the other hand is from the typical NesTea type of dispenser, so don't expect anything different or unique. My recommendation is that you go for the iced milk tea, the yuan yang, or maybe even the milo, knowing that they would surely serve it as sweet and probably even thicker than the iced milk tea.

Sweet French Toast with Maple Syrup: 7/10


I would have preferred my french toast less soft (and soggy-like) but Daphne sorta found this good.


The thing about Full House's French Toast is that you are given a bottle of maple syrup to add as much as you like. The thing about Daphne is that she would gleefully soak everything in sweet sweet sweet maple syrup.


There, you see what I mean. Shiny, glistening maple syrup, sweet enough to almost neutralise the sweetness of my iced milk tea.

Service
Friendly.

Price
Super Kung Fu Iced Milk Tea: $2.30 (large)
Iced Peach Tea: $1.90 (small)
Sweet French Toast: $2.50

Place
The Central B1-30
Clarke Quay

Canelé Pâtisserie Chocolaterie

You would probably think Canelé Pâtisserie Chocolaterie is some atas restaurant like Au Petit Salut, or something exquisite enough to blow your wallet (and brains) off. The name has enough accents and French hints to make people (like me) try to roll it off our tongues effortlessly to impress people. Still, that doesn't necessarily mean this is all your up-market French fine dining.

Meet Chef Pang Kok Keong!

"Canelé Pâtisserie Chocolaterie is helmed by Executive Pastry Chef Pang Kok Keong. Chef Pang, a self-confessed sweet-toothed gourmand began his culinary odyssey as a SHATEC student in 1993. He worked his way up through the ranks, commencing as a trainee at the Imperial Hotel in Singapore, then as a pastry cook at Michealangelo’s Group of Restaurants from 1997 to 1999.
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Chef Pang’s efforts have not gone unrecognised. He was also nominated for the Pastry Chef of the Year Award at both the 2005 and 2006 World Gourmet Summit Awards of Excellence in Singapore. In 2006, he was the Pastry Chef for the Singapore Culinary Team that beat 6 other international teams on route to winning the Best Pastry, Best National Team, Best Hot Cooking and Best Cold Display awards. In 2007, he won Cacao Barry Pastry Chef of the Year at World Gourmet Summit."

Kudos to the chap for making Singapore proud!


Me and Daphne heard a lot about the meringues and desserts here, and we really wanted to try it out. The food blogs and Canelé's website all looked and sounded amazing, trust me.

66%: 8.7/10


Chocolate ice cream with chocolate crumble and dark chocolate shards

You know I'm a chocolate lover, so how can I ever say no to this right? And yes, after dinner at NYDC (see previous post), we sure needed something great for dessert and 66% from Canelé Pâtisserie Chocolaterie did not disappoint. Rich chocolate ice-cream with quality dark chocolate and sweet milk chocolate sauce - it's a delightful mix really.

Service
Exellent. Very attentive, very helpful, and very polite.

Price
$8.00++

Place


Raffles City Shopping Centre #B1-81/82
[Next to Ben & Jerry's]
Website: http://www.canele.com.sg/index.html (menu and prices)

Additional Comments
1. Soup seems to be a favourite among some customers here.
2. My next target: Chic Choc!
Chocolate ice cream, warm chocolate sauce, chocolate meringue, chocolate crumble, chocolate shards, vanilla crème chantilly. Wheeee chocolate!

NYDC

Me and Daphne were walking around the fountain area of Suntec City because that's where many of the restaurants are as well. We eventually decided to go to NYDC, though in retrospect, I really wished we didn't.

Roast Chicken and Grilled Pepper Baked Pasta: 3/10


Sure, I took the risk and did not order a dish that had a "Wow" label, NYDC's equivalent of a chef's recommendation. I never did expect to see my food served in an old looking dish with charred (and even small cracks) sides. I never did expect to have my fork touch the pasta like it was touching the ceramic dish, hard and certainly burnt. I never did expect smooth cheese to be hard and burnt too. I must say again, the pasta was dry, hard and burnt. The chicken was the only thing unburnt, miraculously. It must have been from a well-behaved chicken.

Mushroom Ham Baked Rice: 7.3/10


Daphne liked her rice, but was equally unprepared for the old-looking dish that it was served in. She also found much of the sides of the food too burnt for her liking.

Service
Fair. It was early, almost 6pm and eventhough it was a public holiday, it was still very quiet. The staff however didn't seem quite bothered to serve us. Come on, I know it's a public holiday, but SMILE please.

Price
$11.90++ each.

Place
Suntec City
#B1-012 Fountain Terrace
Website: http://www.nydc.com.sg/ (with menu and prices)

Additional Comments
1. For people who don't eat pork, the good thing about NYDC is that they indicate which dishes have pork, and thus, which don't.
2. To be fair, NYDC serves great desserts and cakes. Give them a try instead, like Cookie Monster.

Toast Box

As you'd guess, our unsatisfactory experience at Ya Kun prompted us to head straight to Toast Box at Orchard Wisma a couple of days later for better toast. Never mind it's slightly more expensive, sometimes taste matter a lot. Besides, we kinda wanted to diet and do away with a full lunch. Toast apparently seemed like a good idea for weight-watchers, don't you agree?


Unless you choose to give in to temptations, and sin ultimately.

Peanut Butter Thick Toast: 8/10


(Un)Healthy serving of peanut butter. Man, I was stuck in a dilemma watching the lady spread the peanut butter, half of me wanted to say stop, the other was watching in glee at how thick it was HAHA.

Iced Milo Dinosaur: 8.3/10


HAHA. What happen to the diet?! I was weighing this with good ol' coffee, but somehow I wanted to treat myself for erm well... Fine, I tried to convince myself that I deserved something as sinful as this. But hey, no regrets, it was good. Thick iced milo with such generous toppings of milo powder. Chocolatey good!

Otah Toast: 7/10


Daphne thought this deserved a higher rating, but somehow I felt the otah could have done better with less of a curry-like taste, and well, a more otah taste! It was very spicy too.

Iced Horlicks


No ratings for this because I didn't try this, but Daphne said it was fine.

Service
Very friendly.

Price
Too hungry to really take notice.
It's close to $5 a set, which consists of the toast, two half-boiled eggs, and a drink.

Place
Food Republic
Orchard Wisma Atria Level Four

Additional Comment
Do you know that Food Republic is run by the Breadtalk Group, and so is Toast Box?

Ya Kun Kaya Toast

So our clubbing night wasn't that eventful, which meant we settled for an early supper at The Central in Clarke Quay with WeiJie and WanHua. Imagine, instead of booze, we sat down for coffee! Man, aren't we getting old haha.

French Toast: 5/10


It's true that I expected more from Ya Kun, which explains for the dismal rating here. The French Toast used to be warm, crisp and sweet, and I recall better tasting ones in the other Ya Kun stalls like that of Toa Payoh HDB Hub and The Cathay. This one was cold, soft and almost bland.

Toast with Kaya: 7/10


Daphne had this, and I think it's alright, though I have to say I find Ya Kun's butter is getting saltier and saltier everytime I visit it. The usual biscuit-like toast, some like it this way, some rather have it less like a crisp biscuity thing that often leaves a dry feel in your mouth.

Coffee: 4/10


Too bitter! It's really making me feel like some old man haha. It used to be sweeter and milkier.

Iced Milo: 7/10


Served warm with ice cubes in it. People must remember that if they serve iced milo, they shouldn't serve it warm! Argh. The good thing was that the milo was thick, which certainly helped.

Service and Price
Service was okay, but sorry, I forgot about the price haha. The toasts should be close to $2 each.

Place
The Central #01-31
Clarke Quay
Website: http://www.yakun.com/

Ministry of Food - Japanese Express

Sometimes don't you think Singapore should really have like a Ministry of Food, or an official food association, since it's really so much of a food hub? Then again, taste is always subjective, like how the ratings I've been using for this blog may not match the tastebuds of other more (or less) discerning foodies out there.

In this case however, Ministry of Food refers to a little Japanese stall at the basement of Raffles City Shopping Centre, and it specialises in Japanese gelato or Hokkaido ice-cream, whichever it pleases. To me, it's yummy ice-cream all the same.

Double Scoop in a Cup: 8.3/10


I chose Cookies & Cream and Milk Tea, and they mixed fantastically well! Daphne was initially trying to resist the temptation and allowed me to feed her a couple of spoons, before taking it and helping herself to it. You could tell she was quite disappointed when I finished most of it eventually haha.

Green Tea Single Scoop in a Cone: 8/10


WeiJie and WanHua shared this, and the girl seemed to like it a lot. I didn't exactly like the taste, but everyone else did!

Price
Close to $5 for each.

Place
Ministry of Food Japanese Express
Raffles City Shopping Centre Basement 1
(Opposite Cedele, Near J.Co Donuts and Coffee)

Additional Comment
This is really a dessert branch of the restaurant MOF My Izakaya at Marina Square and Bugis Junction. To find out more, you can go to their website, though it's not completed apparently.

Food Junction @ Raffles City

Me and Daphne often go around the basement of Raffles City so spoilt for choice for food, but somehow or another, we decided not to burst our pockets just before clubbing, and settled for the Food Junction food court on the third level. We settled on this stall, "Local Taste" because one of my friends was eating the Punggol Mee Goreng (don't ask me what's the significance of Punggol, must have had one particular famous stall I suppose) and it sure did look good.

Punggol Mee Goreng: 7.5/10


This was quite the crowd favourite, and almost everyone who came here whilst we were waiting was ordering the Mee Goreng. It turned out not too bad, Daphne found it a bit dry but I think it was good enough for me.

Black Carrot Cake: 7.5/10


The both of us shared this as well, and it was good. Evenly fried and the black sauce was sweet and delicious.

Service
Good. My friend was joking how this stall was manned by "ah-bengs", indeed all three of them looked the part. But they were well-mannered and listened to your orders.

Price
$4.20 for the Punggol Mee Goreng
$3.80 for the Black Carrot Cake

Place
Local Taste
Food Junction
Raffles City Shopping Centre Level 3

Qi Ji

I've always wanted to eat at Qi Ji for quite some time already, but somehow Daphne was usually not in the mood for nasi lemak for either lunch or dinner. This time, when she already had lunch at home, I figured it was the best chance for me to have lunch at Qi Ji. She was staring at me, at the boards, and at people throughout lunch, and then after our movie, asked if we could have dinner there haha. So cute la. I was completely fine with that, and ate the exact same thing as I ate for lunch.

Nasi Lemak Set 3: 7.7/10


I chose this set because I wanted the chicken wing and not the little fried fish, and I wanted otah too. The rice wasn't too moist nor was it too dry, while the sambal was so spicy! I still like it quite a lot (which explains why I didn't mind eating it twice within a few hours) and oh yes, the peanuts and anchovies are very crispy too, which makes it all the more yummylicious.

Laksa: 7/10


Daphne misses her laksa so she ordered this. She liked it spicy, though I felt that it had a slightly bit more curry flavour to it than laksa. I'm very discerning when it comes to laksa, trust me. You can tell from the colour too. I prefer mine with a reddish hue rather than the curry orange.

Ice Lemon Tea: 4/10
Iced Milk Tea: 8.3/10


They didn't have thai iced tea haha, so I settled back for Singapore's teh peng! Very thick, sweet and good, though Daphne found her ice lemon tea to be too sour with an odd after taste. Iced tea yums!

Service
Fast.

Price
Around $3.50 each.
Some other combinations of Nasi Lemak could go up to $4.80, if you choose ingredients like chicken cutlet or fried fish tempura.

Place
Marina Square
Level One #01-06
Also available: Marina Square Food Loft

Additional Comments
1. Certified Halal.
2. You should try the Mee Rebus and Popiah which are pretty popular here.

Eryimin Beancurd

After our movie at The Cathay, me and Daphne wanted something for dessert, but we also wanted something "healthy" so that we wouldn't feel too guilty about it. We decided to have one of Singapore's favourite dessert in "tau hway" at Selegie, but this time round I managed to persuade the girlfriend to try the stall beside the more popular Rochor Original Beancurd. I've had a hard time trying to decipher the cursive writings, but I'd settle for Eryimin Beancurd.


Apparently, some time ago the stall used to be named Beancurd City, and was part of a sibling rivalry that roped in three stalls - two from Selegie, one from Geylang. Business at Rochor Original Beancurd has always outshined that of its neighbour, though my friends at SMU often recommended the latter. We could not ascertain however, if this seemingly new shop name is owned by the same people of Beancurd City. Hope someone could check this out, especially since googling has not been of much help. The following review is especially based on comparison to Rochor Original Beancurd.

Beancurd: 7/10
Soya Bean Milk: 8/10


Many food reviews have often mentioned that Beancurd City's tau hway is smoother and softer than Rochor Original Beancurd next door. I have to admit I could not really tell the difference here, but taste wise, somehow I prefer Rochor by a tiny bit more.

As for the soya bean milk, this is better than Rochor's. It's thicker and sweeter here, which I like.

You Tiao: 8/10


I have eaten Rochor's you tiao a good many time, and have always found it very oily and tried to manage the oil with the tau hway. The one sold here at Eryimin is not oily but still crisp and warm, which makes it much better than Rochor's then.

We wanted to laze around for a bit, so we took a couple of pictures with our very tiny guest star, Ladybird Cookie Monster heh ;)


And so, after introducing ourselves as foodie bloggers, we got him to try out some of the food.



I guess you can tell from his face that he loves it and is enjoying himself =)

Service
The staff here were eager to please, not least because far too many customers were heading straight for Rochor Original. It's quite a pity that they kept rejecting the lady at the store front, perhaps lured by the neighbour's shouting (in chinese) of being the "traditional" and "original" store.

Price
We paid less than $4 for one tau hway, one soya bean milk and two you tiaos.

Place
Short Street, Selegie Road.

Riverside Indonesian @ Plaza Singapura

I am not exactly sure if this is the food court branch of the actual Riverside Restaurant at Clarke Quay (now closed), but this stall is certainly a favourite here at the Plaza Singapura Kopitiam.

Grilled Chicken Set: 7.7/10


Yummy. Never mind that the soup they serve is nothing else other than water mixed with pepper. The chicken is nicely grilled, nicely flavoured with the bbq gravy, and the curry nicely complemented the steamed rice. Simple but delicious.

Price
$4.80 per set.

Place
Plaza Singapura
Level 6 Kopitiam

TSC by Tong Shui Cafe II

Daphne joined my family for dinner and this was after our Bangkok trip. You can read more about TSC by TongShui here and know more about its Halal and 24-hour concept. Daphne ordered her HK Dried Noodles with Shrimp Wanton again, and so did we with the chicken wings, so we're not going to do another review on those. Here's a few other things that we tried.

Fried Rice with Black Pepper Chicken: 7.7/10


I found this to be pretty good actually, though the chicken was a tad overfried I have to admit. The gravy was pretty good and went well with the fried rice, which otherwise would have been quite plain on its own.

I was pretty hungry and the chicken looked so good, that I hurried with the picture shot haha. Apologies for the blurriness.

HK Dried Noodles with Chicken Chop: 7.5/10


My two sisters ordered this and they liked it quite a lot. Chicken chop seemed pretty tender and well-marinated. Noodles otherwise were the same as the one Daphne was having with her shrimp wanton.

Thick Toast with Peanut Butter: 8/10


Crispy on all sides and oozing with peanut butter goodness. It's fattening and sweet yes, but hey, it's worth the try really.

My dad also ordered the "lo mai kai" but because we were too busy eating, didn't get to take a picture. But it looks like any lo mai kai, and my dad says, it tastes like any other lo mai kai as well.

Service
They missed out an order, and it seemed that the staff were very slow, probably because of the slow pace of business. My mum was telling me that they went for the buffet a week ago during Mother's Day and the staff were quite impatient as well.

Price
A brief estimate of:
$8.88 for the Fried Rice
$2.88 for the Thick Toast
$7.88 for the Chicken Chop Noodles

Place
Changi Airport Terminal 2
Viewing Mall, Level 3

Additional Comments
1. Halal-certified, but the only Tong Shui Cafe branch that is.
2. Open 24 hours.